i decided this should be documented..hehe

While waiting for the lift at the office yesterday, an ex-colleague whom I haven't seen in 3 years (despite working in the same building!) said, "Hey Amy. I think you lost a lot of weight la. What happened?"

Coming from this blunt person and from someone who does not give compliments much, is like a WOW to me. 

So I said, " Are you sure it is not because of the tudung?" (I haven't started donning my hijab then)

"No,no, no.. you memang lost a lot of weight. What did you do?"

I grinned. LOL. Give me some credit la guys. 

Anways, the lift came and before stepping in, I said, "Thanks! You made my day!"

That was exactly it. The compliment did make my day after some stressful weeks at work.

Gonna have a retreat to my own little lovely sanctuary tomorrow. 

Have a good week!

mis(ter) chief

I received this message this morning. One of my nephew has finally had his dream came true. He is now a police inspector!

It made me so proud because it is his dream since he was a little boy, since I babysat him, and he is ALWAYS talking about being a police inspector. Now he's all grown up, married and finally got his dream job, alhamdulillah. I teared a little when I came to know about this because I know how hard it was at first for him and for his family to settle everything that has been going on in their lives. 

With every hardship, there is ease. (94:5-6)

And Allah is the Most Generous and the Most Loving.

keep the faith

Have you ever wanted and prayed for something so so bad? You think you've done everything there is to do just to get that one thing, only to be disappointed in the end. 

When I was in my previous job, work was everything to me. Stayed long hours for months, did projects and migration, managed people, streamlining processes yada2. I loved what I was doing because I have wonderful colleagues , the pay was good and I knew I was doing an amazing job. 5 years at the company, attended 3 interviews for promotions which had 95% chance of me getting promoted based on my capabilities, only to find out that "Your interview was exceptionally good but we had to promote the senior one first."

You know, that kind of disappointment?

This time, I am going through the same, except that this time it's not about work. It is about life. You know, sometimes, we think we have done everything to get what we want. But when we don't get what we pray for straightaway, we start to blame God on it. I don't blame God, though, I am blaming myself and looking for what is it I have done or haven't, so I can finally get what I want. But I was having doubts about His promises. That shouldn't happen, I shouldn't think that. Felt like smacking off those syaitonnirajim for putting those doubts in my heart. 

Last Thursday, during usrah, each of us shared a verse from the Quran and shared their reflection based on our own understanding. Some shared 'popular' verse and surah like surah al-Asr (about how precious and limited time is and how we are often use our time on duniawi things and only spared the 'leftover' time to Allah i.e "Still ada masa lagi ni, baru sempat nak buat solat."), surah ar-Rahman on that 1 verse repeated 31 times in the surah (the verse is, "Which of the favors of your Lord would you deny?", basically a reminder on the many, many rezeki that He has given us but we still choose not to believe, also one of my favourite surah :) ), surah al-Baqarah verse 45 on having patience and pray (coincidentally my granduncle was advising the same to us in the car 2 weeks back, he said, bad or good, ask only from Him, do not seek elsewhere, ask and sujud) and surah ali Imran verse 185 on every living thing will surely taste death.

One of us shared a verse from surah Taha verse 132 ("Kami tidak meminta rezeki daripadamu bahkan Kamilah yang memberi rezeki kepadamu.") Nearly made me cry because when she explained on her reflection, it hit me on the spot. Right on the spot. A few years back, she was a workaholic and had very little time spent with the Creator, doing just the basic like the 5 obligatory prayers, fasting in Ramadhan and totally missing out on terawikh prayers. In the end she realized that the more money she got, the faster she lost them as well, like there is no barakah in her rezeki. And then, she started prioritizing Allah in her daily life. Things start to change since then. Back to my point about having doubts on His promise (and smacking off that evil devil), that reflection sort of put an end to this dilemma that I am having.

:')

Yesterday morning I read this status in Facebook which sort of seconded the answer that I was looking for. Read on please :)

Allah tahu apa dan bila masa yang terbaik.

Be patient, Weina, your time will come, insyaAllah. 

You go girl.

words of wisdom

I love this.

It's so true. 

That ah-ha moment. 

Priceless.

Anyway, I'd like to share here a video on a graduation speech by a student speaker, Hamza Siddiqui, from University of the Pacific, last June. It has been quite a while since I've heard a good speech, especially one that cited verses from the Qur'an itself. 

  

Kinda gave you that warm feeling, isn't it?

My personal favourites (yes of course I have to point this out) are : 

1) I've learnt that when you're heartbroken, you should place your hand on your chest and feel it beat. It's not broken yet. 

2) I've learnt that it's easy to go from one relationship to another relationship, to another one, but it's a lot harder to give time to fall in love with yourself.

3) Work hard but be easy on yourself.

4) No matter how busy you get, stay in touch with your friends.

5) Know that there will be time when the people that you love will betray you, treat them with kindness and forgiveness.

6) When somebody angers you, they have conquered you. Don't let anybody conquer you. 

7) I've learnt that life is really fragile. And that every single one of us are going to have to leave one day. 

These are my favourites because they reflect my life journey, be it friendship, relationship etc. 

So be good, everybody. It doesn't hurt, I tell ya. 

I remember working with a colleague a year back. He's a good staff, it's just that the management doesn't really favour him because he is kind of a rebel, questioning some of the plans the management has in store (which by the way, benefits them more than most of us). When I messed up at work the other day, I keep telling myself what an idiot I am. That colleague then said, "Takpe, ni dunia je semuanye"  I was so sentap at that time that I stayed speechless for quite a while. 

Moments like that lives forever in my mind. I think it's good to hold on to things that make us stay grounded. When we think too much or let emotions get the best of us, that's when we could be doing or saying something that could be hurtful to others, sometimes without us realizing it. 

Also, choose a good environment for you to develop yourself, or your family. If you're constantly having to work/grow in a negative environment, it WILL change who you originally are. Yours truly is a firm believer of that. Which is why I left a promising post in my previous job. Nearly 2 years down the road now, and I'm glad I made that decision.  

Have a good weekend!

May Allah reward you with abundance of goodness :)

"It makes no difference how many peaks you reach if there was no pleasure in the climb.” 

Oprah Winfrey

2011 - a heart full of love :)

I am finally back home! Yippee! Arrived at home at approximately 7-ish pm on 31st Dec. Could not describe the feeling that I am finally in the comfort of my own small but comfy apartment. I guess it's true when they say that no matter where you go, there is definitely no place like home. 


I recall one night on the way walking alone towards Mongkok, I stopped by 7E to get something to drink. There were lots of weird drinks which I would have loved to try, but instead I took Coke. Right away, I realise that no matter how amazing the place you may be at, no matter how fascinating your life may be at any point of your life, you will need something or someone who/which you are comfortable with to keep you grounded and always remind you of who you really are. 


Which is why I am now missing my girlfriends so much. They bring the best out of you (even when you're at your worst), they cheer and cry, forgive and accept, hugs and warms you up when the world is cold. And oh boy, the world can really be cold, if you know what I mean. 


2010 was quite a bumpy ride (read my blog u'll see what I mean) but fortunately it ended up nicely. I plan to leave the past behind, which means, no more mourning, to take a fresh start to a great new year and continue to complete my resolutions which I had prepared early 2010. Have completed 2 out of 4 :P But then again, I couldn't quite say that they were completed entirely because some are never-ending processes (i.e saving up for future). If leaving 2010 was an option to decide, I would be gladly giving it away, and I was also glad I kick-started 2011 with a nice date :) (you decide if it's a noun or a verb :D ) 


So, here's to 2011 with happy children, compassionate hearts, achieving goals and dreams, more realistic decisions, happiness + health + wealth, and most importantly, a heart full of LOVE :) Cheers!

The week we went to Victoria Peak

The souvenir I bought from Ocean Park - there's an Ocean Park name stitched on it's bottom

Victoria Peak, freakin' cold. Brrr!

See how cold it is?

First and foremost, to Madame Tussauds!

Di'papparazikan'

Smooch smooch! Move away Angelina!

Awwwww...

This is how they did the wax figure

No idea who he is but oh well!

Idol #1

Idol # 2

Sape suruh masam muka?

"If music be the food of love, play on" - Shakespeare

Errr.. totally out of the picture :P

Guess who is this little genius? Mozart!

Need to introduction eh?

Taken just before entering the tram downhill 

More pics coming!

Captions updated - Happiness is better shared

Mongkok. Shopping heaven!

Seems like I go there every other night :P

First purchase in Ladies Market, Mongkok.

I think this was around $60. Love it cos it's cute.

OTW back from Tsim Sha Tsui. Love the hanging red lights. And the atmosphere.

OTW to my dream destination since childhood

With friend, Ina and her lovely daughter

Finally reached dream destination!

Weehoo!

Gemoks!

Unfortunately we were a tad too early, so I walked around and shot some photos.

One of the first to purchase :D

All smiles. Let's go!

Lovely, love 'em flowers

Early morning parade

In line for Mickey + Minnie's shoot

Weeeeeee

Alice and moi

Goofy's hut

The photos taken by the park's photographers. Memoirs.

Disneyland's photo claim ticket

On a different day at the Avenue of Stars, Tsim Sha Tsui

Sotong grill. Yummeh!

Bought a few DVDs as well. What the heck, they are freakin' cheap!

Temple Street's touch of glam :D

Bought each at $25, similiar to the ones you find at Forever 21

Getting onboard Bus 629 to Ocean Park. This is at Admiralty MTR Station

Arrived!

Just after the twirling ride

Sealions

Before the dolphin + sealion show at Ocean's Theatre

The 4 dolphins! Beauties :)

Up the Sky Tower, bird's eye view of Ocean Park

A part of the view. Some sites are under construction for more attractions

The sea view. Amazing.

Makan2 area. Nyums. We had McDonald's for lunch.

Before the swing starts to swayyyyy

Before the Pirate Ship ride. Dang, scared the hell outta me. Thank God it didn't go 360 degree.

Yeah man, I RODE this! Screamed the entire ride!

Cable car going back to the other side of Ocean Park

At one point during the ride, I really felt like throwing up. Seasick maybe?

Ok, sempat posing.

Going down now

Nice right? I just loveeee hot air balloons, but these are just replicas, not for rides.

Acrobatic show

One for all!

Merry X'mas!

And a whole lot of HUGS!

Cute pandas

Move as millions, survive as one

Pretty busy munching on the bamboo shoots

Gold fishes ;)

Alololooo. Manja nye

The search for 'Warung Malang' finally ended, thanks to a cewek

Believe it or not, this is the first yummeh nasi campur dish we've had since our stay in HK

The tram, or 'ding-dings' as our locals call it

There you go. Those are some of the initial activities I did in HK. Love the experience, love the places. Will come back again for another trip (not for work, definitely). Actually I have updated photos but since now I'm using the lobby's PC to update this blog, I can't upload the photos as they're in my laptop. Hopefully the next time I come back, it will be with that special person :) Happiness is better shared, trust me :)